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Republican voters support Common Core, national surveys say

Bobby Jindal

Gov. Bobby Jindal used to support the Common Core educational standards but now opposes them. National surveys released Monday say that might not be the best political move: likely Republican primary voters are pro–Common Core.

Condemning the Common Core academic standards might not be the electoral slam-dunk that Republican candidates think it is, GOP pollster John McLaughlin said Monday. According to new national surveys, Republican primary voters prefer a candidate who supports Common Core - by a 12-point margin -- over one who disdains the standards and links them to President Barack Obama.

The results are a tacit strike at Gov. Bobby Jindal, a would-be presidential candidate in 2016, and other Republican politicians who have turned on Common Core. Unlike Jindal, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has maintained his support for Common Core and is fighting legislative opposition to the standards while running for re-election this year.

Jindal helped sign up Louisiana for the standards in 2010. But after some national and grassroots opposition began surfacing in 2013, he now pledges to get the state out of it. He wrote in April that he supports higher academic standards but thinks Common Core represents federal intrusion in what should be state and local issues.

"Republican candidates should recognize that the appeal of standards is very strong and it cuts across party lines," McLaughlin said. Furthermore, "anti-Common Core rhetoric could be a real liability in a competitive general election where swing voters decide the race."

The national surveys tested support for Common Core both with and without using the term "Common Core." Two thirds of swing voters and registered Republicans would support a candidate who advocated "having test standards for math and English at every grade level to measure if students in your state and across the country are achieving minimum levels of education." In fact, Republicans were more likely to support that candidate than swing voters, and only 19 percent of Republican respondents said they would not support that candidate.

The numbers dropped slightly when the politically charged term was used. However, a majority of Republican voters, and 60 percent of swing voters, supported a candidate who backed "Common Core,"

Despite all the headlines, 42 percent of polled voters said they had not heard or read anything about Common Core, including 32 percent of voters with children under the age of 18 in the house. That, McLaughlin said, contradicts some politicians' claim "that Common Core is red-hot at the grassroots level and a virtual litmus test for candidates these days."

McLaughlin concluded, "The anti-Common Core positions may be inviting in the short-term, but looking to November supporting state standards that elevate school achievement have far more upside."

The surveys were commissioned by the Collaborative for Student Success, which receives support from the pro-Common Core Gates Foundation. The first survey, of 1,000 likely general election voters, had a 3.1 percent margin of error. A second survey of 500 Republican primary voters had a 4.4 percent margin of error.